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Toian Matchinga, who guest-starred three times on the 1960s CBS series The Wild Wild West and appeared on such other shows as Death Valley Days, I Dream of Jeannie and The Odd Couple, has died. She was 82.

Matchinga, who later in her acting career went by her birth name, Caryn Matchinga, died Sunday of natural causes at home in Belmont, Massachusetts, her family announced.

In films, Matchinga appeared for Don Siegel in Madigan (1968), for Irvin Kershner in Up the Sandbox (1972) and NBC’s Raid on Entebbe (1977) and, in her final onscreen role, for Costa-Gavras in Mad City (1997).

The Ohio native booked gigs on The Wild Wild West, which starred Robert Conrad and Ross Martin, in 1965, 1967 and 1969. Her résumé also includes episodes of The Wackiest Ship in the Army, The Rat Patrol, The Flying Nun, The Big Valley, Rango, Ellery Queen and Rich Man, Poor Man.

Caryn Lee Matchinga was born in Painesville,...

Anna Strasberg, an actress and the widow of famed acting coach Lee Strasberg who wound up inheriting the bulk of Marilyn Monroe’s estate, has died. She was 84.

Strasberg died Saturday in New York City of natural causes, a publicist for The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute told The Hollywood Reporter. She co-founded the institute and served as artistic director and “visionary leader” at the home of the Method acting approach.

“Anna ensured that The Institute became a beacon for aspiring actors and remains a cherished space for artistic exploration and growth,” a statement said. “Her lifelong commitment to The Method and unwavering devotion to The Institute have left an indelible mark on the world of acting and the countless talented people she inspired.

“Her presence will be dearly missed, but her legacy lives on through The Method and every class of passionate students.”

Monroe died at age 36 on Aug.

Walter Mirisch, the legendary independent-minded producer who is the only person to receive the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences’ Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, the Irving G. Thalberg Award and an Oscar for best picture, has died. He was 101.

The affable Mirisch, who served four terms as president of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences from 1973-77, died Friday in Los Angeles of natural causes, AMPAS announced.

“Walter was a true visionary, both as a producer and as an industry leader,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said in a joint statement. “He had a powerful impact on the film community and the Academy, serving as our president and as an Academy governor for many years. His passion for filmmaking and the Academy never wavered, and he remained a dear friend and adviser.”

Survivors include his son Larry Mirisch, the owner of The Mirisch Agency,...

Eric Braeden is famous for his role as Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless. The Daytime Emmy winner has played the iconic character for four decades. However, if it wasn’t for the encouragement of a celebrity pal, Braeden might not have auditioned for the show.

The Young and the Restless star Eric Braeden I Sonja Flemming/CBS via Getty Images A celebrity pal encouraged Eric Braeden to audition for ‘The Young and the Restless’

Before becoming a soap star, Braeden was famous for his work on the ABC drama The Rat Patrol. After the series was canceled in 1968, Braeden landed minor roles in TV and made for TV films. But in 1980, he landed the role that would make him famous.

Braeden’s performant as the ruthless Victor on The Young and the Restless made him a soap opera icon. The actor was uncertain about working on a soap opera; however,...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Kino Lorber continues its alliance with niche market video label Scorpion Releasing with a Blu-ray edition of the largely forgotten 1969 action/adventure flick "The Devil's 8". The film typifies the kind of movie that simply doesn't exist any more: a low-budget production designed for fast playoff and modest profits. Back in the day, studios depended on movies such as these to be important to their bottom line. It's in stark contrast to today's film industry where seemingly every release is intended to be a blockbuster with production costs so high that some flicks have to gross close to a billion dollars to be considered financially successful. "The Devil's 8" is pretty much what you might expect simply by examining the sleeve. Typical of these types of movies, it presents a cast of reputable character actors who get meatier roles than they usually did in more prestigious productions. The script...

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By Doug Oswald

A Japanese Naval officer and an American Marine Corps aviator are marooned on a Pacific island during WWII in “Hell in the Pacific,” available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. The film is a virtual silent movie with the exception of the Pacific island sounds of surf, wind, birds and the occasional words spoken by the co-protagonists portrayed by Toshiro Mifune and Lee Marvin. However, neither understands the other’s language. The film opens with Mifune scanning the horizon for any signs of rescue when he spots a deflated life raft. The rubber raft belongs to Marvin who is hiding in the thick jungle growth nearby. Marvin is able to elude discovery by Mifune, but eventually thirst forces him to reveal himself on the beach.

Mifune captures Marvin after several attempts are made by Marvin to take water from...

Lynn Stalmaster, the legendary casting director who worked on nearly 200 movies ranging from “West Side Story” to “Harold and Maude” to “Tootsie,” has died. He was 93.

Stalmaster died Friday morning in Los Angeles, Casting Society of America executive Laura Adler confirmed.

Stalmaster was a pioneer as an independent casting director who worked on a freelance basis. He was renowned for his skill in spotting new talent and matching actors to the perfect roles. He was also a champion for elevating the status of casting directors in the industry. In 2016, he became the first casting professional to be honored with an Oscar when he received a Governors Award tribute from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

“A pioneer of our craft, Lynn was a trailblazer with over half a century of world-class film and television casting credits. He was a friend and mentor to many of us,” Casting Society of...

In the very earliest days of television in the 1940s and early 1950s, our country was still reeling from World War II. As time has marched on, we have waged wars in Korea, Vietnam and the Middle East. Throughout these years, our small screens have brought us many different types of military men and women who have represented the heroes of these and other battles.

One of the earliest successful television series was the Emmy-winning sitcom “You’ll Never Get Rich,” later retitled “The Phil Silvers Show,” which brought us the iconic Sgt. Bilko. Other successful comedies have followed, including “McHale’s Navy,” “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.,” “Major Dad” and the most successful and longest-running “M*A*S*H,” which gifted us a number of memorable characters from the 4077th.

SEEAlan Alda Interview: ‘Marriage Story’

Military series offered one of television’s first ventures into the action genre, with shows such as “The Rat Patrol.

In the very earliest days of television in the 1940s and early 1950s, our country was still reeling from World War II. As time has marched on, we have waged wars in Korea, Vietnam and the Middle East. Throughout these years, our small screens have brought us many different types of military men and women who have represented the heroes of these and other battles.

One of the earliest successful television series was the Emmy-winning sitcom “You’ll Never Get Rich,” later retitled “The Phil Silvers Show,” which brought us the iconic Sgt. Bilko. Other successful comedies have followed, including “McHale’s Navy,” “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.,” “Major Dad” and the most successful and longest-running “M*A*S*H,” which gifted us a number of memorable characters from the 4077th.

Military series offered one of television’s first ventures into the action genre, with shows such as “The Rat Patrol.” A few years later,...

If not for a tennis game with actor Dabney Coleman in the late 1970s, Eric Braeden might never have landed his signature role as conniving business mogul Victor Newman on CBS’ “The Young and the Restless.”

Braeden, 78, has become an Iron Man of daytime soaps who will mark his 40th anniversary on “Y&r” with episodes to air next week. But way back when he met Coleman on the court, Braeden was still on the fence about even accepting an offer to audition for the show.

At the time, Braeden was concerned about moving away from primetime, where he’d logged dozens of guest shots and TV series supporting roles: “Gunsmoke,” “Kojak,” “Cannon,” “Mannix,” “Combat,” “The Rat Patrol,” “Barnaby Jones,” “The Rookies,” “Marcus Welby, M.D.,” “Charlie’s Angels,” to name only a few. He usually played heavies, spies, detectives or Nazis, given his piercing stare and native German accent.

When Braeden...

1953’s House of Wax with Vincent Price cast a long shadow fairly early in the horror world; creepy Grand Guignol (in 3D no less) with a strong thread of vengeance gave us further goodies such as Tourist Trap (1979) and a recently reappraised remake in 2005. It’s not surprising then that TV would take a crack at molding its own vicious visage; what they came up with is a pilot film that executives deemed too shocking for the small screen – Chamber of Horrors (1966), a decidedly ghoulish take on necrophilia and murder mixed with breezy banter and chopped up body parts. I think the brass may have been right to send this one to the big screen.

Before you get too excited, we’re not talking Blood Feast here; it’s incredibly tame by today’s standards. No, it’s the subject matter itself which would send mom and dad into epileptic fits,...

It was a moment that seemed strangely out of place. The Titanic was in its death throes when the maestro behind the mayhem turned to Eric Braeden and uttered a single word: "Never.” Eric felt the questioning look cross his own face as he turned to the voice. The confusion evident, the speaker, director James Cameron, explained: "The last line in Colossus." Eric smiled, struck by the fact that the director wasn’t referencing his, at that point, 17 (now 38) year run as Victor Newman on the TV soap The Young and the Restless, but, instead, his portrayal of Dr. Charles Forbin in a little sci-fi thriller from 1970 about a computer that takes over the world. At the same time, he was forced to reflect on his own bittersweet feelings regarding that film — Colossus: The Forbin Project — his first starring role in a Hollywood production. (Photo Credit: Getty Images) "I was...

There aren’t a ton of absolutes in life, but among a laundry list of things I enjoy whilst spinning around the sun, here’s three: Christopher George, private dicks, and mad scientists. And so imagine my delight when I stumbled across Escape (1971), a failed TV pilot about an ex escape artist turned P.I. who investigates, in his words, “the unexplainable.” And while the pilot doesn’t dip its toes too much into the pool of the unusual, it sure feels like that’s the way they were planning to go.

Not picked up by the network and instead broadcast on April 6th as an ABC Movie of the Week, Escape did little to swerve people away from their Hee Haw’s, All in the Family’s and 60 Minutes for the brass to reconsider putting it back on the slab. What a shame; Escape today plays as Bruce Wayne...

This week, we went back in the field all the way to Turkmenistan to watch The Rat Patrol attempt to blow up an oil pipeline and knock a few items off Archer's bucket list in "Once Bitten."

With Lana unable to go to Turkmenistan for either racist or sexist reasons (pick one), we were treated the ultimate incompetent trio of Isis field agents with half-cyborg Ray back and field operative Cyril joining Sterling.

While out in the dessert, Cyril got to shine with his surprising amount of snake knowledge. Identifying the Caspian cobra was impressive enough. Duh, it's all about their ventral bands. But the man's knowledge in venom and vasodilators? Possibly saved my life. I'll never suck out venom out of anyone's taint again.

Ray, meanwhile, managed to prove how badly he'll lose in his impending epic robot battle against Barry when he couldn't even live the a measly jeep with his new legs.

I’ve always been a war film buff, maybe because I grew up with them at a time when they were a regular part of the cinema landscape. That’s why I read, with particular interest, my Sound on Sight colleague Edgar Chaput’s recent pieces on The Flowers of War (“The Flowers of War Is an Uneven but Interesting Chinese Ww II Film” – posted 2/20/12) and The Front Line (The Front Line Rises to the Occasion to Overcome Its Familiarity” – 2/16/12) with such interest. An even more fun read was the back-and-forth between Edgar and Sos’s Michael Ryan over the latter (“The Sound on Sight Debate on Korea’s The Front Line” – 2/12/12), with Michael unimpressed because the movie had “…nothing new to add to the war genre,” and Edgar coming back with “…‘new’ is not always what a film must strive for. So long as it does well what it set out to do…...

Csu Archives / Everett Collection Ayn Rand testifying before House Un-American Activities Committee as a friendly witness, on Oct. 20, 1947.

In her old age, after she had stopped writing essay-length exegeses of the moral and political prescriptions contained in her fiction, after her large cult following had left her and dispersed, after the tumult of the 1960s and 1970s, after lung cancer, Ayn Rand spent evenings playing Scrabble with a few regular visitors to her Murray Hill apartment and casting and recasting...

Rejoice! Looking to wash away the taste of the Clash of the Titans remake! We are, too. Hopefully the latest news from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will get you as giddy as it has us!

From the Press Release

Embark on an adventure with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment when the epic odyssey Jason and the Argonauts is released on Blu-ray Disc on July 6, 2010 for the Slp of $24.95. Special effects legend Ray Harryhausen (Clash of the Titans, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad), who turns 90 this year, solidified his mark as a stop-motion master when this movie hit theaters in 1963. Harryhausen’s use of the medium exhilarated audiences as they followed Jason on his journey, encountering behemoth bronze statues, multi-headed serpents and the iconic animated armed skeletons. Through these effects, Harryhausen gave this mythical tale new legs and a provided an enduring spectacle for audiences. Viewers can now take this journey in...

Established 1974! Our news column climbs a new treehouse.

Sf TV

The best thing about this weekend is, of course, the annual Treehouse Of Horror episode of The Simpsons (pictured). Believe it or don’t—this is the 20th Anniversary episode—and airs Sunday, 8 p.m. Est on Fox. This all-new chapter includes an Alfred Hitchcock parody, zombies and more. It’s preceded at 7:30 p.m. by a rerun of last season’s Treehouse (#19). Also on Fox, The Cleveland Show (8:30 p.m.) premieres “Birth of a Salesman” and American Dad (9:30 p.m.) debuts “Brains, Brains & Automobiles.” In between (at 9 p.m.), it’s a rerun of Family Guy, but o what a rerun! It’s the Stephen King anthology “Three Kings” (with guest voice work by George Wendt, Richard Dreyfuss and the late Roy Scheider). The specific King tales being spoofed are The Shawshank Redemption, Misery and The Body/Stand By Me.